Climate change deniers keep at it

Why climate change deniers are still at it

It’s more about politics than science

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak’s twitter comments Monday that called global warming alarmists “unpatriotic racists” made the media rounds for 24 hours. It immediately met shock and awe from critics. But it shouldn’t be shocking that one of American’s most beloved game show hosts believes climate change is all hype, because many of the Republican members of Congress do, too.

So far in 2014 two big studies on climate change have painted a very dire picture of the world’s global warming. Both were released in April, one by the UN and the other by the White House.

But that hasn’t changed the minds of Republicans in Congress. Fifty-six percent of House Republicans and 65 percent of GOP Senators publicly deny humans are responsible for the changing climate, according to data compiled by Think Progress.

According to Think Progress, 163 climate denying elected representatives from the 113th Congress received about $59 million from the fossil fuel industry. Although all types of members of Congress have likely sought the contributions of fossil fuel companies—there’s a lot of money there—the 163 deniers received more funding compared to the remaining non-denying members of Congress who received about $35 million in funding over their careers.